Establish shelters for homeless LGBTQ youth

The AIDS epidemic killed 53,113 in the US alone in the eight years that Ronald Reagan was president and ignored the crisis. That number would rise to 501,669 by 2002.

The homelessness of LGBTQ+ youth is an epidemic in its own right.

40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ+ identifying and seven-in-ten cited parental rejection as their reason for homelessness.

94% of youth shelters service LGBTQ+ youth, despite LGBTQ+ youth only accounting for 20% of the youth group.

58% of trans youth whose parents reject them, attempt suicide.

58% of homeless shelters are faith based and many turn away members of the queer community, particularly trans women.

Gay people are 8 to 30% less likely to gain employment compared to their straight competitors and transgender people 47% are more likely than cisgender people to be denied a job. 43% of gay people and 90% of trans workers are harassed and mistreated either before or after getting a job. This abuse can range from being passed over for promotions, verbal and physical abuse, and wrongful termination.

Without being able to obtain and keep a place of residence and a job, homeless LGBTQ+ youth are caught in a nigh-on endless cycle of poverty and displacement. Building a support network and offering protection, stability, and opportunity for all homeless young people, and especially queer young people, should be a priority.

We are not in a position to stand by as another epidemic kills half a million more queer people only a generation after the AIDS crisis. If the current administration stands by like the Reagan administration did, people will die in the thousands again, and most of them will be young people.